reading for wed

In today’s reading entitled “Shout into the wind, and it shouts back,” by Lori Kendal the author speaks about the topic of Live Journal. LiveJournal is place where people can write down their thoughts, and it allows you to view others pages as well. The reading speaks about issues of private journal vs. public performance, efficiency vs. audience management, control vs. connection, and autonomy vs. the desire for comments. These are all issues that come into play when talking about blogs and LiveJournal. The author talks about all of these issues in depth, and makes logical conclusions about them.

I wanted to take some time and talk about the first issue discussed in the book, private journal vs. public performance. I think that this is very important part of the difference between a journal and a blog. In ones personal journal they tend it write very self-centered things. They talk about things that are very superficial, and not meant for anyone else’s eyes. Many times they would even be embarrassed if someone else read the entry. On a blog, or LiveJournal their work is out there so they want to put out a good front. They want their friends and family who read these LiveJournal’s to respect what they are saying. There are also different people who use LiveJournal for different reasons. They might not be posting about themselves, or their family, they could be speaking as a fictional character. You really can be whoever you want to be on these platforms of speaking. Before this class I never really knew about blogs, and I really think that they can be beneficial to people. Sometimes when you are feeling down, writing what’s bothering you down is a good thing to do. I know that I am thinking about opening a private blog just to air myself out sometimes.

Kendall, Lori. (2007). “Shout into the wind, and it shouts back.” Identity and interactional tensions on LiveJournal. First Monday, 12. Retrived on August 21, 2008 from http;//www.firstmonday.org/issues.issue12_9/kendall/index.html